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Tom Cruise is shirtless on the cover of June's W magazine. He posed for a spread tattooed up and channeling his Rock of Ages character Stacee Jaxx. The movie, a big-screen adaptation of a musical, is out in the US on June 15 and sees Tom paired up on the big screen with costars Julianne Hough, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, and many more. Tom spoke with the publication about his desire to make a musical at this point in his career, as well as his background in music. He apparently even suggested an addition to the cast to director Adam Shankman. Here are highlights from Tom Cruise's interview in W:

• On growing up singing: "I did the scene from Risky Business around the house. I would sing Bob Seger — my mother worked, my sisters were out, and I'd turn the music up. I learned how to dance watching Soul Train. I noticed that if a guy could dance, he'd get a lot of attention and girls would want to dance with him. I worked very hard at imitating those moves."
• On making a musical at this point in his career: "Kate [Holmes] loves musicals. She sings and dances, and we kind of went through the history of musicals together. And Suri loved Hairspray. With kids, you watch everything over and over; I watched Hairspray 15 times with Suri. I thought Adam Shankman did a great job directing the movie, so I arranged to meet him and said, 'Where's our musical?' He came back and said, 'Rock of Ages.' We went and saw it in LA, and for me . . . I didn't know how to play the character like that. I had to find my own Stacee Jaxx."
• On taking vocal lessons: "I needed to find out if I could really sing! . . . And then I had to learn how to play guitar. I'm very good at air guitar — and air drums — but I had never played an actual guitar. After working for weeks on Stacee’s technical skills, I was thinking about the character, and I said, 'You know what? I need a monkey.' Adam said, 'What the f-ck are you talking about?' And I said, 'I'm serious — I need a monkey.' When Stacee's not on stage, he's kind of sad. And I thought, 'This guy has to have a monkey that's his best friend.' Adam found this baboon. He sent me the baboon’s audition tape, and I said, 'The baboon's name has to be Hey Man [laughs].' Stacee Jaxx doesn't work without Hey Man."

>> Only seven of the scores of titles nominated for National Magazine Awards this year are dedicated to fashion. Many deserve wins, but because some are competing against each other, not all of them are going home with trophies.

Interview, the fashion and culture monthly founded by Andy Warhol in 1969, was nominated for the first time in 19 years. It's up against GQ for a general design award, and it's competing against both GQ and Vogue for a general photography award. Interview editorial director Fabien Baron told WWD, "I've never been the type for awards but it's great for the magazine and great for our staff."

W was nominated for the feature photography in its August 2011 cover story about Tilda Swinton, and so too was Vogue for its March photo story starring Amber Valletta (at left) called "Lady Be Good." Meanwhile, Glamour was nominated for the personal service award for its June feature story titled "The Secret That's Killing Four Women a Day." Esquire was nominated for its special section "Man at His Best," and its sister magazine Marie Claire was nominated for its public interest feature "The Big Business of Breast Cancer."

The National Magazine Awards will be presented in New York City on May 3, but for now take a look at some of the work that got these fashion magazines recognized.

>> The 2011 results are in: Sarah Jessica Parker, Heidi Klum, and Jennifer Aniston regularly and reliably pulled in the top sales at the newsstand, and Mila Kunis was the year's breakout cover star with some of the best-selling issues across titles. While the biggest-drawing names may not come as a surprise, here's what does: the inconsistent ability of some stars to bring in sales — Gwyneth Paltrow, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, and Emma Stone all had some of the best and worst performing covers of the year. Click through to see who else had cover hits and misses in 2011, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations and Rapid Report.

Carey Mulligan shows some skin on the cover of W's January 2012 issue. She's been off in Australia working on The Great Gatsby with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, but it's her most recent release, Shame, that she discussed with the magazine. The Steve McQueen-directed movie earned a NC-17 rating for its graphic sex and frequent nude scenes, and leading man Michael Fassbender has gotten a great deal of attention for the amount of time he spends in the buff. Carey also has her moment sans clothes, and she spoke about that, as well as getting the role and her start in acting, with the publication. Carey Mulligan told W:

• On going nude in Shame: "I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of nudity . . . When it came to this, it just seemed so obvious that she is the sort of person who would have no trouble being naked in front of any family member, especially not her brother . . . I thought I had a week before the nude scene to go to the gym, but we shot it on my first day of filming."
• On wanting the role in the picture: "When I read the script, I found it terrifying. My English agents sent it to me and said, 'There’s this amazing part.' For me, as an actor, it was sort of scary. I’d seen Hunger, which was done by Steve McQueen, the director of Shame, and I thought it was just incredible. And I’d always wanted to work with Michael Fassbender, who had been cast as the brother. So, I asked to have a meeting with Steve to pitch myself for the job."
• On being dramatic as a child: "I would put my earphones on and sing along to soundtracks of musicals like Les Misérables. I’d act it out in the mirror and cry. When I was 11 or 12, I asked my parents about going to a performing arts school, and they said no. Although I did audition to be a presenter on a TV show called Dig It."

In Time costars Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried get political on the cover of W magazine's October issue, looking the part of a picture-perfect, all-American power couple. But there's more to the story than meets the eye, as the photo shoot takes inspiration from some of the most recent political sex scandals, starring Amanda as both the mistress and the first lady to Justin's philandering politician.

The magazine wasn't discreet in its source material, as this image of Amanda holding a fake issue of the New York Post is practically identical to one that covered former Congressman Anthony Weiner's own sexting scandal, Weinergate, which just recently came to a close when he resigned in June. The only thing missing from the spread is a love child à la Schwarzenegger. See more photos of JT and Amanda channeling a political love triangle now.

Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried grace the cover of W's October American-style issue playing the role of a powerful and trendsetting couple. Wearing designs from Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, JT suits up inside the pages while Amanda vacillates between a sexy mistress and doting wife in attire from Carolina Herrera and Calvin Klein. Justin and Amanda carry out an unexpected love affair in their fast-paced thriller In Time, but for their W interview, the onscreen pair slowed things down to chat about sex, getting involved with costars, and more. They said:

• Timberlake on the audition process: "In films, I didn’t crave the type of attention I had sort of stumbled into in my music career. And I do not audition well. I’m really not good at it. Early on, I did movies like Alpha Dog and Black Snake Moan because the directors didn’t ask me to audition."
• Seyfried on acting in sex scenes: "Sex scenes are great. A lot of my costars have been sexy guys my age, and so, why not? I’m not going to pretend it’s not fun. Justin was great — he had come from doing Friends With Benefits, where he basically had sex every day at work — and so it was easy for both of us. We just kind of got it on, and then were like, 'That was good!'"
• Amanda on getting involved with costars: "I love acting like I’m in love. It’s a very positive thing. Making a movie is, in general, romantic. It’s very special, very intimate. So you can see why a lot of actors get together. When you’re young, it’s hard not to get together with your costar. But I’ve been doing this long enough to know that it’s usually not the greatest idea."
• Justin on his relationship with SNL's Andy Samberg: "[joking] We have two kids now—two boys. One of them is named Samberg and the other is named Timberlake. So they’re Timberlake Samberg and Samberg Timberlake. I think it’s supercreative and egoless to name your kids after yourself [Laughs]."

Beyoncé Knowles and Christina Aguilera shared the honor of covering July's music edition of W. Both singers are at exciting points in their careers — Christina has found a new outlet on TV with NBC's The Voice while Beyoncé is gearing up for the release of her new album 4. Beyoncé spoke to the magazine about her vision and inspiration for the tracks, even revealing the important meaning of the record's title. Beyoncé said in W:

• On her vision: "When I sing a song, I definitely have the image for the video in my mind. I kind of hear the choreography that will be in the video, and I can see how I’ll look, even before anyone — the record company, the director — has heard the song."
• On her new record: "I wanted this record to come from a raw place. Playing Etta James in the movie Cadillac Records really changed me. It was a darker character, and I realized that if anything is too comfortable, I want to run from it. It’s no fun being safe."
• On the symbolism of her album's title: "The fans have named the album 4. And four is my favorite number. It’s an important number in my life: the date of my birthday, my mom’s birthday, my husband’s birthday, the day I got married. Barack Obama is the 44th president, and I performed ‘At Last’ by Etta James at his inauguration."

Photos courtesy Patrick Demarchelier for W

January Jones got serious in a leather leotard on the cover of W magazine's May issue. She's gearing up for the June release of X-Men: First Class and also talking about her role in Mad Men, the AMC series that just got picked up for a fifth season. The interview isn't quite as controversial as January's feisty words in Marie Claire UK, but the actress opened up about getting along well with boys and being immune to rejection. Check out the full article when January's W debut hits newsstands on April 19. She said:

• On getting along with guys: "I'm really like a guy in a lot of ways. My screen saver is a picture of me with Eli and Peyton Manning taken at the Kentucky Derby. The most starstruck I get is around football players."
• On moving to NYC to model: "I was excited to be independent, but I was also naïve — I wanted to be rich and famous. I lived in an apartment near the Empire State Building. There were a billion girls in New York City who wanted to be models. After a while, I was immune to rejection, which helped when I went out to LA to become an actress."

Jane Eyre stars Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska posed for photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino in the April issue of W, which will be on newsstands March 22. The duo were also together last week in NYC for the East Coast premiere of their movie, which features Mia tackling the iconic title role. Michael, who recently shared with us about his newfound sex symbol status, has the task of portraying Charlotte Brontë's elsuive Mr. Rochester. He told the magazine, though, that he felt too young to play the part but was game to tackle the sex scenes. Mia also weighed in about her start in Hollywood. They said:

• Michael on sex vs. death scenes: "Sex scenes can be quite awkward. As a guy, the first thing you want to do is make sure you’re not taking advantage. You don’t want the girl to feel like you’re getting a free feel or something. I try to make a fool of myself in one way or another to lighten the mood and then just go for it, because you don’t want to be doing take after take. As for dying — to not play like you’re dying is the way to go when you’re dying in a movie. I think it’s best to look like you’re about to fall asleep."
• Mia on her start in acting: "When I decided to pursue acting at 15, I heard that you had to have an agent to do film and television, so I did a Google search on acting agencies in Sydney. I hounded one to take me on and started auditioning."
• Michael on playing Mr. Rochester: "I’m probably 10 years too young for Rochester, so I went for a Byronic sort of hero. I didn’t read Jane Eyre in school, but my mother and sister were always talking about it, and that was a big reason why I did it. I didn’t have a preconceived idea of Rochester — I just saw him as encapsulating so many interesting elements: a shady past, intelligent, self-destructive, destructive, passionate. And he has a terrible secret. I’m curious to see what my mother and sister think of my Rochester."